Maharaja Pariksit addressed the assembled sages, humbly asking them to explain the unalloyed duty of everyone in all circumstances, and more specifically, what is the duty of those who are about to die. Practically the entirety of the Srimad Bhagavatam deals with these two questions. The conclusion, also confirmed by the Lord in the Bhagavad-Gita, is that devotional service is the last word in relation to everyone’s constitutional position in life.
Sukadeva Goswami, the powerful son of Vyasadeva, appeared at that moment. Having heard the Srimad-Bhagavatam from his father, he was completely disinterested in the affairs of the material world, yet self-satisfied with respect to devotional service. Although only sixteen years of age, the assembled sages rose to acknowledge his superior spiritual status.
Sripada Puri Maharaja discussed the essential importance of sravanam and kirtanam — hearing and chanting. Both are necessary. One must first hear before one can speak in a meaningful and beneficial way.
The relationship between a devotee and his family members is sometimes most difficult to handle, especially when family members are not devotees. Yet, a pure devotee of the Lord serves his family interest more effectively than others who remain attached to family affairs. To properly care for the leaves of a tree, one must water the root.
The principle of modernity is self-interest. When Descartes expressed his “cogito ergo sum,” he took all conception and localized it within the ego. Before that, western society was more universally oriented, taking direction from the church or from scripture. In ancient Greece, there were no individual rights as each individual was defined as a citizen of the State. Now in modern times, it has come down to survival of the fittest, competition rather than cooperation, a world without love. However, a devotee wants to help everyone. A devotee sees the suffering of others as his own and wants to relieve that suffering in the most perfect way.
There are two faces of existence — “being for itself” and “being for others.” These Hegelian concepts can also be expressed as independence and dependence, respectively. Every atom of consciousness has these two faces. Only when both faces are considered together does one have a comprehensive idea of “self.”
There are many conscious entities within our bodies. As the most important living being within our body, we are like the Brahma of our body.
Here is the recording of 13 June 2012 sadhu-sanga.
Srila Sanatana Goswami was very strictly observing in the renounced order. Never taking shelter of any stone habitation, he lived under trees and bushes both day and night in the transcendental forest of Vrndavana. After collecting some books on archeological excavations in Mathura, he wandered through the different forests of Vraja to fulfill the order of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to restore the holy places of the Lord’s pastimes.
While Sanatana Goswami remained in Vrndavana, Rupa Goswami and Anupama returned to Varanasi where Srila Rupa Goswami heard of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions to Sanatana Goswami. When he learned of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s deliverance of the Mayavadi sannyasis, he became ecstatic. After residing in Varanasi for about ten days, Rupa Goswami returned to Bengal.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu returned to Jagannatha Puri along with his servant, Balabhadra Bhattacarya. Arriving at Atharanala, near Jagannatha Puri, He sent Balabhadra to call for His devotees. Being overwhelmed with pleasure, all the devotees hastily went to see the Lord on the banks of the celebrated lake called Narendra-sarovara.
The Lord then proceeded toward the temple of Jagannatha to see the Deity and then took prasadam with all the devotees at various residences. The Lord chanted and danced with His devotees for a long time.
Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami concludes the Madhya Lila by briefly summarizing each of the twenty-five chapters. He then closes with several important remarks: (1) Krsna Consciousness means understanding the truth of Krsna, the truth of devotional service, the truth of love of Godhead, the truth of emotional ecstasy, the truth of transcendental mellows and the truth of the pastimes of the Lord. (2) By understanding the pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one can understand the truth about Krsna. By understanding Krsna, one can understand the limit of all knowledge described in various revealed scriptures. (3) The philosophy of Krsna consciousness is to become the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Whoever wants to understand the difficult subject matter of krsna-katha should accept the disciplic succession.
Here is the recording of 09 June 2012 sadhu-sanga.
Atheists stand on a negative conception of God. As Hegel explained, to say God and to say “no-God” is to utter the same concept, because the absolute content of the negation of God is God! In other words, one must already have a conception of God in order to deny the existence of God. As is evident from historical cultures around the world, some concept of God is innate to the human mind.
Materialists fail to explain how mind or life come into existence from dead matter. Existing in a world of mere matter implies they have lost their mind, their life and God. Certainly they must qualify for being the absolute “Biggest Losers.”
Because a human being has free will, he may come to think knowledge comes from him alone. However, the Bhagavad Gita says that knowledge, remembrance and forgetfulness all come from Krsna (B.G. 15.15). Thus, a devotee never thinks of himself as being a completely independent entity.
Krsna is all-attractive. He rules by beauty, charm and sweetness, and never by force of position or power. It is our nature to seek fulfillment and thus be attracted to such pleasing qualities, which have their source and perfection in the Love of Sri Sri Radha Krsna.
Maharaja Pariksit recognized that the time of death is the most important moment of life. The intelligent devotee knows that there is an infinite realm beyond this finite world, and that he must make some adjustment for that interest throughout life.
Prahlada Maharaja was born a devotee in the family of a powerful demoniac king, and thus came to understand the intense allure of materialistic life. His life was miserable for two reasons — he missed the comfort of his spiritual home and, at the same time, he felt the pain of always coming in contact with what he didn’t want. A devotee considers such misery to be a blessing to remind him of his real purpose.
The spiritual sky is filled with unlimited variegation. Some may consider this to be imaginary, since we cannot travel to the spiritual realm via spaceship, but only by subjective conscious development. However, there are many things we accept as being real, though we have no direct experience of them. Thus, it is important to study the scriptures under the guidance of a qualified guru to learn more about our true spiritual identity.
Here is the recording of 06 June 2012 sadhu-sanga.
Maharaja Pariksit expressed deep humility toward the arriving guests. This is natural, for as one develops love for God, the depth of love for the devotees also increases.
Being a pure devotee, Maharaja Pariksit could see the hand of the Lord even in the curse of the brahmana boy. His feelings were further confirmed by the arrival of all the great transcendentalists of the universe.
To desire something for oneself is not a characteristic of a pure devotee. Unalloyed devotion has no expectation of personal reward.
The word authority comes from the word ‘author’ which means one who gives increase to others. Those in authority must have the benefit of those under them in mind at all times.
Sripad Puri Maharaja mentioned that analytical thinking began in the western world with Descartes who separated the world into a duality, res cogito and res extensa. According to Descartes: ‘ergo cogito sum’, or ‘I think, therefore I am’. Here it is posited that the individual does the thinking. But Hegel showed in his dialectical spiritualism that thinking is the activity of the Universal and not the activity of the individual. Without the presence of the Supreme Lord’s energy, the living entity cannot do anything — sarvasya caham hridi sannivishto mattah smritir jnanam apohanam ca (Bhagavad-gita 15.15)
Maharaja discussed the one-sided view of the evolutionists who concentrate entirely on competition rather than cooperation, even proposing that altruism arises from the “selfish gene.” However, this is rationalization rather than reason. To the contrary, we understand that the natural, constitutional position of every part of the universe is that of a servant. If this were not so, everything would disintegrate. If we fulfill this subservient role out of affection rather than duty, the entire universe can become peaceful, joyous and fulfilled.
If one looks at the writings of Darwin, he was not as mechanistically-minded as the neo-Darwinists make of him. Scholars have noted that Darwin recognized a teleological aspect of adaptation — that adaptation was purposeful, not merely random.
Since the jiva comes from the marginal potency, he can choose to direct his attention either to the God-centric or the self-centric conception. However, forgetfulness of the Center leads to enviousness, selfishness, lust, anger and greed. Thus, we should die to the world of exploitation and live in the world of dedication.
Real happiness cannot be found within the plane of repeated birth and death, but is only achieved by becoming Krishna conscious and dedicating one’s life in devotional service. Therefore, Maharaj Pariksit happily accepted the curse of the brahmana boy as a blessing. Thus he decided to prepare for his imminent death and find out the way to go back home, back to Godhead.
Maharaja Pariksit sat down on the banks of the Ganges to concentrate his mind in Krsna Consciousness. Being aware of his impending death, he became detached from all worldly affairs and was able to fix his mind completely on the transcendental narration of the Names, Qualities, Forms, and Pastimes of the Supreme Lord.
Sripad Puri Maharaja discussed the modern idea of a multiverse, a concept which was contained in the Vedas thousands of years ago. However, a devotee has no interest in taking residence within the material planets, but desires to go beyond the multiverse to the spiritual abode.
Maharaja Pariksit was interested in hearing the answer to the most important question that every intelligent person must ask, i.e., what is the duty of the person whose death is imminent. The great Personality Sukadeva was coming to fulfill this need of Maharaja Pariksit. Both the listener, Maharaja Pariksit, as well as the speaker of Krishna Katha, Srila Sukadeva Goswami, were highly qualified. Knowing the qualifications of the great sage Sukadeva, many great personalities had assembled to hear the topmost and final conclusion of the revealed scriptures that he was going to deliver to Maharaja Pariksit.